Let’s rewind to the night of the November 8th- I sat with my family in front of my mom’s big screen TV, excitedly waiting for the results that would announce the new leader of our free world. I won’t go into details of the battlefield my mind had endured when casting my ballot, but I can assure you, my vote was not one for Trump. Near the end of the night, with a nerve wrecking close race, I felt sick to my stomach and our exciting night came to an end as we solemnly parted ways. We had decided that we could no longer watch the race. I walked through my front door and made a bee line for my couch, where I fell into an emotionally exhausted slumber. I woke up at around 3am and frantically searched for my phone so that I could check the election results, and to my disgust, I saw that Donald Trump was our newly elected President. It felt unreal. Nobody saw it coming. I wrestled with my own mind for hours, and I couldn’t go back to sleep. Why was this so terrifying? Why was I so worried? This was more than just a political party race- but from distress, my mind couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

For the next few months, until the date of his inauguration, I analyzed the campaign promises Donald Trump had made. While his general rhetoric was repetitively explaining that he was for LGBT rights, he had a troubling past of supporting “traditional marriage” and his choice for Vice President was an LGBT enemy. Mike Pence supported Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, fought marriage equality on the grounds of “religious freedom” and believed in conversion therapy, among other anti-gay beliefs. America has an infamous past of poor treatment to those of LGBTQ identities, and this election created a path back to historical times of LGBTQ hell. I feared that the work of the LGBTQ community, and those who lost their lives fighting for our rights, would be erased.
That fear is becoming a reality. Just hours after the inauguration earlier this year, the Trump administration had scrubbed the white house website of the LGBT page. This page is still available on the archived Barack Obama version on whitehouse.gov, however, was not deemed of importance to keep during the Trump administration, along with other pages such as the climate change page, civil rights page, and Spanish translation option. This was only table setting for the year and changes to come.
By January 31st, a leaked draft of the anti-LGBTQ executive order is received with a protest at the historic Stonewall National Monument. The Trump administration denied that it was an order that was considered by Trump, but that doesn’t stop the panic. “Inside sources” then reveal that he was in fact considering signing this order, that eerily resembled the First Amendment Defense Act, a “religious freedom” bill that Trump had promised to sign during his campaign. However, his daughter Ivanka and son in law Jared intervened, and it was not signed.
Then came along Betsy DeVos, whom for many reasons, I do not support. Her history of ties and donations to anti-LGBTQ groups being one of them. The lack of representation and sexual education for the LGBTQ children was already a concern, and suddenly we were going to have to fear discrimination on our children in public schools that would be allowed by the education system. If Betsy wasn’t enough, we then got Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, who has been called “a lifelong opponent of the civil rights of LGBT people, people of color, women and immigrants” by Lambda Legal Executive Director Rachel Tiven.

From surges in hate groups, the revoking of the equal access to bathrooms for transgender students, to President Trump signing an executive order that revoked the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Act, my worst nightmares were coming true. The progress that those before us fought and died for, was being washed away. We were even removed from the drafted 2020 U.S. census, where the Department of Commerce said that including the LGBTQ Americans was an error, because there was no need for this data. We had moved forward so much, only to have our inclusions become errors, as we were not necessary.

Another troublesome issue- the White House along with the Trump Administration, refused to acknowledge or declare June as pride month. Although he isn’t the first sitting president to refuse to do so, he is the first who vehemently defends himself as an LGBT ally who refused to. Actions speak louder than those campaign lies, and we can all see the truth clearly now.
The hits just keep coming, as we battle with the supreme court about Transgender Bathroom Laws and Discrimination cases, that question whether a business can discriminate because of their religious beliefs. When speaking with a friend, she expresses her concerns by stating “There's been a definite increase in discrimination. It's essentially given people the "go ahead" to say things that, I feel, they would not have said before Trump was president. Especially here in Fresno, let alone elsewhere. I'm afraid more for my friends who can't pass for straight, especially my trans friends.” Her concerns are not unfounded. In 2016, at least 22 deaths of transgender people due to fatal violence were tracked. So far in 2017, that number is already at 14 transgender people who were fatally shot or killed by other violence. She adds “The bathroom bills are already a slippery slope towards legal discrimination against trans people.” Although she identifies as a bisexual cis woman, she recognizes the dangers in her surrounding community, as do I.

Months after election night, and I’m starting to pinpoint the fear I felt. It’s the looming doom of oppression, and the preparation for battle. We fought for human rights, we fought for civil rights, we fought for freedom of expression and for personal autonomy. We fought so that people can be who they are without discrimination. We were so close, and now I feel we have an uphill battle to restore equality. My biggest fear is that we as the LGBTQ community became comfortable with the Obama administration. We need to connect with our communities and allies to be politically aware, and to be active in everything that we do. It is not trivial to prepare our fight, because we are already being stripped of rights. The increase in hate crimes for all minority groups is unacceptable, so we need to stay safe. Our community is most important right now, and we need to access and be aware of all the resources available. I am including some internet resources below this article. Check them out- and please- don’t give up hope and be safe!

When we were in St. Petersburg, Florida earlier this month we visited The Florida Holocaust Museum which is one of the largest such museums in the country. This year they are celebrating their 25th Anniversary.

Their permanent exhibit, “History, Heritage and Hope” is on the first floor and features original artifacts, videos and photos. It deals not only with antisemitism but also with other victim groups. The Nazis classified not only Jews as ‘the enemy” but also included Roma (Gypsies), people with disabilities, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, Afro-Germans as well as Jehovah’s Witnesses and Homosexuals.

The centerpiece of the museum collection is an actual train box car that transported victims of the Nazi regime to the concentration camps. It rests upon original track from the Treblinka Killing Center as a silent tribute to those who perished on the Holocaust. Seeing this is a VERY daunting and somber experience. Just to think of all the hatred in the world both in history and in today’s world as well ! Everyone claiming to be a right wing Christian and or ‘born again Christian needs to visit this museum as well as everyone else in the country! You will walk away with a new appreciation toward life. The 2nd and 3rd floor has changing exhibits of art and history.
Besides having artifacts, photos, exhibits, etc. the museum also runs several programs of outreach within the community with the aim of continuing their mission of human rights. To put it simple...... they are an excellent and outstanding organization.

They are now having a very special exhibit: NAZI PERSECUTION OF HOMOSEXUALS – 1933-1945. Between 1933 and 1945, 100,000 men were arrested for homosexuality under Paragraph 175, the sodomy provision of the German penal code dating back to 1871. Some were imprisoned, others were sent to concentration camps. Of the latter, only about 4,000 survived. In 2000, fewer than 10 of these men were known to be living. The exhibit is full of LGBT history with stories, photos and artifacts.

Five of the survivors came forward in a documentary to tell their stories for the first time, considered to be among the last untold stores of the Third Reich. The documentary, “PARAGRAPH 175” tells of a gap in the historical record and reveals the lasting consequences, as told through personal stories of gay men and women who lived through it. including Karl Gorath, Gad Beck, the half-Jewish resistance fighter who spent the war helping refugees escape Berlin, Annette Eick, a Jewish lesbian who escaped to England with the help of a woman she loved; Albrecht Becker, German Christian photographer who was arrested and imprisoned for homosexuality, then joined the army on his release and Pierre Seel, the Alsatian teenager who watched as his lover was eaten alive by dogs in the camps. If you REALLY want to read a heart wrenching story, just ‘Google’ Perre Seel, actually ‘Google’ all of these people.

The Museum is located in downtown St. Petersburg at 55 Fifth Street South and their hours daily are 10 AM to 5 PM. You can call them at 727.820.0100 or visit their websites: www.thefhm.org or https://www.flholocaustmuseum.org/

We want to thank Kristen Wright at the Museum for her assistance.

We dedicate this travel column to Siegbert “Siggi” Wilzig, (1926-2003) who was a Holocaust survivor and the Father of Sir Ivan, Sherry Izak and Alan Wilzig and the husband of our dear friend Naomi Wilzig,(1934-2015),

Always remember to have fun when traveling, meet new people and talk to everyone!

TRAVELING IN OUR FABULOUS GAY WORLD is written by Donald Pile and Ray Williams, Award-winning, Celebrity travel columnists who write for gay publications from coast to coast (And now legally married).

The opposition to black and brown stripes being added to the Pride Flag is an almost poetic metaphor for the discrimination LGBTQ+ people of color face on a daily basis. One would think, being part of a marginalized community, broader inclusivity and intersectionality would be a given, but that is not always the case. As demonstrated with the mixed reactions to Philadelphia’s unveiling of a redesigned pride flag at a Pride Month kick-off event this past June, one that included brown and black stripes to represent our black and brown LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters (Coleman, 2017).

The most prominent arguments I’ve seen against this inclusion of the two additional colors are as follows:

1) Race is not a sexual orientation.

My counter to this argument is: technically, transgenderism is not a sexual orientation either. It’s a gender identity and despite what some people think, gender identity and sexual orientation are not mutually inclusive. And if you want to delve into semantics, none of the colors on the flag represent sexual orientation or gender identity specifically.

2) The colors of the rainbow pride flag are already all inclusive.

While I cannot argue that, the decision to alter the flag in such a way is more of a symbol than anything else. A symbol like the one Gilbert Baker created in 1978. Does the name or the year ring a bell? That was when Baker created what is lovingly revered as the symbol for gay pride today.

Prior to the creation of the rainbow flag, the symbol for the gay rights movement and pride was the pink triangle (Morgan, 2017). An image that was reclaimed by the LGBTQ+ community from the Nazi regime during World War II. The identifying badge for homosexuals, persecuted by the SS and sent to concentration camps, was a pink triangle, inverted as a means of “warning”. You know, like a traffic sign. Inverted pink triangles warned of homosexuality, as well as sexual offenders like rapists, pedophiles, and zoophiles (Plant, 1988).

Understandably, Baker elected to go with a more hopeful symbol for the gay rights movement, one that wasn’t tied to such a dark and dehumanizing past. Thus the idea for the rainbow flag was born, picking specific colors to represent the togetherness of the LGBTQ+ community. Because LGBTQ+ people come in all shapes, sizes, and colors themselves (Morgan, 2017). It originally came with two colors that are no longer included. So, we know there’s always been room for more colors.

The reality of the situation is, we should be actively inviting and opening our arms to our black and brown LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters. They have to deal with a double whammy of discrimination. People of color have to deal with, not only the overt and/or subtle racism they face for their skin color on a regular basis, but also the discrimination for their sexual orientation or gender identity. And not only just by white bigots, but by people in their own communities as well.

Now this is not an attempt at validating a stereotype that communities of color are more homophobic than white communities. Because the reality is, a lot of these prejudices tend to stem from a form of classism and the way religion is used to quell the masses in order to prevent revolution because of economic and social inequities. That is its own piece and I shall refrain from delving deeper here. But what I am saying is, I don’t believe communities of color are any more or any less homophobic than white communities. It is subjective and dependent on things like personal belief systems and access to education.

What the additional stripes provide is a symbol. We all need symbols. Symbols like the White House lighting up in rainbow colors when gay marriage was legalized statewide. We all need the inclusion these symbols can provide. Right now, according to a Gallup poll conducted in 2016, people of color comprise approximately 40% of the LGBTQ+ population in the US (Gates, 2017). And yet they are the least represented in media.

Don’t get me wrong, that continues to improve. With characters like Jamal Lyon on Empire, Sophia Burset on Orange is the New Black, Raymond Holt on Brooklyn 99, Lionel Higgins on Dear White People, Amanita and Lito on Sense8, Titus Andromedon on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Annalise Keating on How to Get Away With Murder; we are slowly and surely bringing some representation of LGBTQ+ people of color to the forefront of the average television viewer’s living room. But when you take into consideration just how many television shows exist presently, that is such a tiny fraction. The list I just provided isn’t the entirety of POC LGBTQ+ characters in media, but the full list isn’t much longer.

Intersectionality has been something that the LGBTQ+ community has struggled with, like any culture or subculture with a dominating class or race. I recall how significant it was when the television show Queer as Folk premiered on Showtime almost twenty years ago. It was the first American television show of its kind. A show built around the lives of five gay men and two lesbians in Pittsburgh, none of which were dying of AIDS. But more problematic than some of the stereotypes it played into, was the fact that all of the characters were white.

The black and brown stripes on this redesigned flag are symbolic of trying to move forward into a more intersectional community. While it does not fix the core issue of the discrimination LGBTQ+ POC face in their everyday lives, if we actively demonstrate that they have a safe haven in their local LGBTQ+ community, perhaps we can better tackle the issues that we all face. Black and brown lives matter, and instead of ostracizing our brothers and sisters who differ from us ethnically, we should embrace and support them.

Does it fix the discrimination that LGBTQ+ people of color face within other and their own communities? No. But it has the potential of being a good place to start. Now I’m not so naïve to believe that racism is an easy fix. Nor am I so narcissistic to believe that one op-ed written by a white cisgender female is going to unite all of us, despite Hollywood’s propensity for telling stories of POC from the perspective of the white savior.

The thing is, I don’t understand why there is any outrage over this revised flag. There are a plethora of individualized pride flags already within the community. From the variations of pride flags for the different sexualities and gender identities, to flags for specific communities, like Bears and BDSM. If we can embrace these different flags within our community, I truly don’t understand the reticence or refusal to accept what is just another symbol of inclusivity for all of us.

At this point, if you disagree with amending our Pride flag (which is within your right, first amendment and all that); if you are genuinely angry about the revision, for whatever reason you state that makes your anger seem righteous as opposed to bigoted, it’s my first amendment right to say you are part of the problem. Embracing these additional colors to our pride flag is a metaphor for embracing the people they represent and if you have a problem with that, well… the problem isn’t the flag, is it?

Read more: Somewhere Over the LGBTQ+ Rainbow

To friends and family who voted for Donald Trump last year and remain silent about his continual behavior, or worse, still approve of his job as Commander in Chief, I ask a simple question: What will it take for you to say, “Enough is enough!”?

We knew what Donald Trump was about before the election. He openly incited violence at his bizarre rallies. He lied and spread misinformation throughout the primary and general election. His views of minorities and women were informed by fringe, extremist websites. He retweeted and encouraged neo-Nazis on Twitter. He challenged a primary opponents’ manhood during a policy disagreement on live television. He went after private citizens on Twitter, attacking their humanity. He praised dictators and commended their totalitarian actions. And, of course, his performance in every debate was absolutely embarrassing.

And you still voted for him.

I know, I know – you were most likely a “never Hillary” voter. Even though the fierce hatred of everything Hillary Rodham is a near-pathological condition of the American right founded on falsehoods and misogyny, I get it: she was “just another politician.” Even though I can’t convince you that your Hillary hatred is literally unfounded, you have every right to think she’s awful or “too liberal.” That’s okay – I still love you.

But you still voted for the racist, proudly ignorant candidate.

His bigotry wasn’t a deal-breaker for you. Rather than take a moral stand and cast your vote for a third-party or write-in candidate, you pulled the lever for a man who has never stopped degrading (or endangering) the American presidency since he arrived in January.

Even though it’s been difficult for me, I’ve chosen to chalk up your vote for the worst president in modern American history as a belief on your part that maybe he’d change or moderate his views once assuming the presidency. Perhaps you thought he was just joking or wasn’t serious. After all, I don’t associate with people who hold such repugnant views. “Don’t worry – he’ll straighten up when he gets there.”

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or only get your news from questionable sources) you’ll know that that has not been the case. If anything, he’s only gotten worse.

He’s continued to attack citizens and allies. His misogyny is just as strong today as it was when he was a dishonest playboy in 1980s Manhattan. Science and respect for norms are quickly being eradicated and replaced with policies that reek of authoritarianism and censorship. His administration is also full of shady connections to Russian oligarchs and to the Kremlin itself, connections that become clearer and more pronounced as time goes on.

Your response: Deafening silence...even support.

The hardest part of living in the Trump Regime has been your complacency with and/or support of the unprecedented ugliness and misinformation coming out of the West Wing. Your guy won and now he’s calling the shots...but he’s still horrible.

What will it take for him to cross the line? When will you stand and say, “This is absolutely unacceptable!”? Where is the line? Does he have to grope a woman on live TV instead of bragging about it? If someone you know and love had their family torn apart through deportation, would that make a difference? Maybe you’d change your tune if he said the N word or called someone a faggot. At least I’d like to think you’d change.

History will judge this president harshly. Children will learn about how insane and unmoored from any sense of decency Donald Trump was. They’ll think to themselves, “How could anyone have voted for this man?” His policies will be condemned for how they hurt millions of people, largely the poorest and most vulnerable. Will you be one of the tens of millions of Trump voters who stood by him without question or conviction? What does it say about you if your answer is anything but “no”?

This isn’t meant to bash anyone over the head. Rather, it’s something I must get off my chest. I know and love some incredible people; I’d hate to discover that any of them hold Trumpian values or find nothing wrong with his abhorrent behavior. If they do, we’ve got a problem.

Despite all his fulminating about “fake news,” it appears that our President-whose definition of‘fake” is any coverage (covfefe??) he doesn’t like—isn’t above generating some fakery of his own.

Remember Trump’s preening over his massive, multi-billion dollar "deal" with Saudi Arabia? Bruce Reidel of The Brookings Institution reports that no such deal exists.
Last month, President Trump visited Saudi Arabia and his administration announced that he had concluded a $ 110 billion arms deal with the kingdom. Only problem is that there is no deal. It’s fake news.
I’ve spoken to contacts in the defense business and on the Hill, and all of them say the same thing:There is no $ 110 billion deal. Instead, there are a bunch of letters of interest or intent, but not contracts. Many are offers that the defense industry thinks the Saudis will be interested in someday. So far nothing has been notified to the Senate for review. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the arms sales wing of the Pentagon, calls them “intended sales.” None of the deals identified so far are new, all began in the Obama administration.
In my ethnic group, this is what we call chutzpah. (Chutzpah is sort of like nerve or gall, but on steroids.The standard example is the guy who kills his mother and father and then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he’s an orphan.)

Chutzpah: (n) I. unmitigated effrontery or impudence; gall. 2. audacity; nerve.

It appears that the “Art of the Deal" braggart, the guy who"makes the best deals," lied through his teeth again, this time about a huge transaction that doesn’t exist-and to the extent it may exist in the future, it was initiated by his "Kenyan" predecessor. As Reidel also notes:
“Moreover, it’s unlikely that the Saudis could pay for a $ 110 billion deal any longer, due to low oil prices and the two-plus years old war in Yemen. President Obama sold the kingdom $ 112 billion in weapons over eight years, most of which was a single, huge deal in 2012 negotiated by then-Secretary of Defense Bob Gates.To get that deal through Congressional approval,Gates also negotiated a deal with Israel to compensate the Israelis and preserve their qualitative edge over their Arab neighbors.With the fall in oil prices, the Saudis have struggled to meet their payments since.”

Reidel isn’t above snarke says we’ll know the Trump deal is real when Israel begins to ask for money to keep the Israeli Defense Forces’ qualitative edge preserved.

A deal that evidently is coming is a munitions sale to the Royal Saudi Air Force, which will enable the Saudis to continue air bombardment of Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country.

Finally, just as the arms deal is not what it was advertised, so is the much-hyped united Muslim campaign against terrorism. Instead, the Gulf states have turned on one of their own.SaudiArabia has orchestrated a campaign to isolate Qatar.SaudiArabia,the UAE,Bahrain, and Egypt broke relations with Qatar. Saudi allies like the Maldives and Yemen jumped on the bandwagon. Saudi Arabia has closed its land border with Qatar.

This is not the first such spat but it may be the most dangerous.The Saudis and their allies are eager to punish Qatar for supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, for hosting Al- Jazeera, and keeping ties with Iran. Rather than a united front to contain Iran, the Riyadh summit’s outcome is exacerbating sectarian and political tensions in the region.

The Middle East has long been the world’s most dangerously unstable area. Now we have put management of the tensions generated there in the hands of the most dangerously unstable person ever to occupy America’s Oval Office-a man who has no ability to distinguish between reality and ego gratifying bullshit.

What could possibly go wrong?

The owner of Pulse nightclub in Orlando announced plans to build a permanent memorial and museum on the building’s grounds to honor the victims of the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
Club owner Barbara Poma said the OnePulse Foundation would raise funds to go toward a memorial, community grants for survivors’ families,scholarships and a museum with artifacts and stories of that fatal day.
“We will not let hate win,” said Poma, who founded Pulse in 2004to honor her brother,who died of HIV/AIDS in 1991 ."We will ensure that no one of this generation and the generations to come will ever forget what happened here.” The Pulse shooter, Omar Mateen, was later killed by police.

The mass shooting brought an outpouring of support from around the world. Poma wants the memorial to be part of a "healing initiative” for victims’ families, survivors, and first responders. She had planned to sell the building to the city of Orlando to build a memorial on the site. However, she ultimately decided to lead the memorial construction herself and declined to sell to the city.

“I now know that my role is to ensure Pulse as a place of healing," she said. Earl Crittenden, the chairman of the OnePulse Foundation, said the charity is accepting donations on its new website to build an "iconic, meaningful” monument. He also announced the foundation’s board of trustees, which includes business executives as well as pop star Lance Bass and former NBA player Jason Collins.

Your hair is grayer than it was back then. You’ve both packed on pounds here and there,too. A few wrinkles surround your smiles,but that’s okay–you’re not fresh faced kids anymore. You’ve aged, you’ve softened and,in the new book “Transitioning Together” by Wenn & Beatrice Lawson,you’ve changed quite a bit.
Long before they met, Wendy and Beatrice had a lot in common: both came from families of similar sizes. Both had fathers that “didn’t have a head for figures” and mothers who ran the family businesses. Wendy and Beatrice are both on the autism spectrum.

The main difference: Wendy was a married woman.

They met one afternoon when Wendy, her husband, and their four children were living in the home of a “well-to-do” family that had just hired an au pair. The shy
young woman didn’t speak English and Wendy didn’t speak Swiss German, but when Wendy was asked to help the girl to settle in, Beatrice proved to be a quick study. She easily learned a new language and she and Wendy forged
a close friendship. Both seemed only a little surprised when that friendship turned into love.

Wendy, who’d had health issues most of her life, never considered falling in love with another woman, but it felt right. Beatrice had an inkling that she was a lesbian but she shunned the word, afraid that it would “be an embarrassment” to her family. Even so,she settled into a relationship which was tender, and fragile from the start.

Wendy and her family moved from England to Australia as her abusive marriage was crumbling. Beatrice was unable to make the move with her beloved, due to Australia’s
immigration laws.They ultimately figured out a way to be together physically; once Wendy’s divorce was final, they knew they’d be together legally as well.

But even after their wedding,Wendy wasn’t happy. Never comfortable in her body, she felt sure that something was missing,so she sought her “tribe” before understanding that she needed to transition to become the man he’d always known he was. And that was something Beatrice wasn’t sure she could handle...

From its very beginning, “Transitioning Together” is a tough read. There’s a lot of preliminary to wade through to get to the start of the actual story here,and then there’s a lot of confusing setup that identifies authors Wenn and Beatrice Lawson by their relative ages,rather than by name.While it’s helpful, later, to have a change in font to delineate who is weighing in,you might continue to be baffled by the semi-linear nature of what is mostly Mr. Lawson’s version.

Yes, tenacious readers who can bear with this dual memoir will get a double-edged peek at the emotional process of transitioning for both partners,through the added, unique perspectives of autism and age. That’s worth the patience - if you have it.Indeed,this book could be more for professionals than for anyone else; general audiences may enjoy “Transitioning Together,” but only by a hair.

I generally shy away from basing my blogs–or my own opinions, for that matter–on material from partisan sources. Trump and his enablers may accuse traditional
media of being “fake” or biased, but that’s a tactic, not an accurate description, so I try to limit my references to places like the New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, etc.

But in the aftermath of Trump’s most recent–and arguably most breathtaking–departures from anything close to Presidential behavior/circumspection/sanity, I’m breaking my rule, and sharing a Daily Kos post that spoke to me–loudly and clearly.

The obstacles to Democratic control of Congress are not emotional, and emotions are not the answer. We don’t require more “enthusiasm.” We’re not lacking in progressive ideas and candidates, nor are we shy on appropriately moderate options.

We don’t need better explanations of our positions. We’re not even hurting for dough right now.
We need voters.
And our opponents have done a damn good job for decades of blocking our voters. Gerrymandering. Voter ID. Roll purges. Our problems are structural. And they will take a great deal of work to overcome.
As regular readers know, when it comes to the importance of social and political structures, I’ve been singing that song for a long time. The author of this post goes further than diagnosis, however.
He has a prescription for what ails us. Voter ID laws are unconstitutional poll taxes. That doesn’t get rid of them. The only way around them is to identify our voters and get them the IDs. We can’t just drive
them to the polls, we have to drive them to the DMV six months earlier. And, if they can’t afford the new poll tax, we have to find a way to pay for those cards for them.

We have to make sure they are registered, and stay registered through the coming postcard purges, calling long before Election Day, checking for them and helping them re-register if they get booted.
And, on Election Day, we have to have already built those relationships. The phone calls can’t be, “Hi, I’m blah blah blah from the blah blah blah campaign reminding you to blah blah blah.” They have to be, “Hi, Phyllis, it’s Ashley. What time do you want me to pick you up?”
Admittedly, this is a lot of work. It’s so much easier to post a scathing remark to Facebook, to share a particularly pointed comment or article, and then feel as if we’ve done our part.
We can continue to preach to our choirs, engage in handwringing with those who already agree with us, and who already vote–or we can do the hard work of identifyingn on-voters, registering them, making sure
they have what they need, and getting them to the polls.
Here’s the bottom line: there is only one way to save this country from the accelerating damage to our institutions and national defense (not to mention the
raping and pillaging that the Trumpers aren’t even bothering to hide). Democrats, scientists, moderate Republicans and all sane Americans must do two things
simultaneously: we must delay and obstruct as many of their legislative assaults as humanly possible; and we must ensure that 2018 will be a wave election that will oust the Trump enablers from the House and Senate.
If we fail–if we give in to “outrage fatigue,” rely on the Democratic party or Common Cause or the ACLU to act on our behalf, or simply tell ourselves we’re “too busy” to find and equip that non-voter, we will wake
up in January 2019 to a country we don’t recognize..,and definitely won’t like.

One of the most-popular live-streamed TV series in history, Orange is the New Black, premieres its fifth season June 9, and it promises to be a roller-coaster ride.
Taryn Manning (Pennsatucky) was rumored to be leaving the cast but then denied those rumors. Lori Petty's Whitehill is on her way to the psych ward though Petty has said she will be appearing.
Orange is the New Black’s cast has grown exponentially since season one, from a story about Piper to a study on the diverse characters cooped up in Litchfield Penitentiary. The series stars Taylor Schilling, Uzo Aduba, Kate Mulgrew, Laura Prepon, Laverne Cox, Dascha Polanco, Danielle Brooks, Selenis Leyva, Samira Wiley, Taryn Manning, Yael Stone, Jackie Cruz, Lea DeLaria, Adrienne C. Moore and Elizabeth Rodriguez.

Netflix has repeatedly said Orange is the New Black is its most-watched original series. The series has backed up that claimed with numerous awards over its first three seasons, including 12 Emmy nominations and three wins for season one alone. Season two earned four Emmy nominations, with Uzo Aduba winning for best supporting actress in a drama.

Season four of Orange is the New Black left things on a pretty brutal cliffhanger. The inmates of Litchfield are rioting and Daya has retrieved a guard's gun and is pointing it directly at Officer Humphrey. It's a good bet that season five begins exactly at that point since the cliffhanger between seasons one and two was resolved nearly immediately.

The largest gay event in the Central Valley shares the story of their arduous journey to maintain LGBTQ visibility within the city of Fresno

A single spark is enough to set the world afire. The same is said for the movements that change the course of history. It starts with an idea, a single word, or a single step to set the right things in motion. In just a few days, on June 3rd, Fresno Rainbow Pride Parade and Festival will be celebrating their 27th year in the historic Tower District complete with the theme: “One Step Starts A Movement” to commemorate the many milestones achieved in the fight for Equality.

From 1955 when the first known Lesbian rights organization formed in San Francisco to the ban lift of Transgendered people serving in the U.S. military in 2016. “It is only through a community’s unity that we can overcome injustice towards all groups of people,” says the committee about their message behind the parade and festival.

Despite the impressive progress the LGBTQ community has seen throughout the country, as well as around the globe, the movement is still in full swing with the growing need for change right here in the Central Valley. But to know where this fight is going, it’s important to know where it has been and for that, we need to go back to the beginning.

“We’ve never had massive support from our allies,” shares Jeffery Robinson, Lead Coordinator, longstanding committee member, and one of the 12 original founders of the Fresno Pride Parade and Festival, “No one has ever rallied around us and [in our defense] said ‘no, we don’t put up with [hateful behavior], it’s all about inclusion, tolerance, and equality.’ That’s never happened in the city of Fresno.”

In 1991 the very first Pride parade was met with a protest from the Klu Klux Klan. But before the parade could take the flight down Olive Ave, the founders were met with resistance from members of their own community.

In the Beginning

1990 could be considered the first year of the official Pride celebration in Fresno when 12 individuals got together and decided that it was time for the local LGBTQ community to be visible. In the beginning, the parade was small and took place inside of a bar with attendees decorating baskets and carts in a similar fashion to parade floats. But it was quickly decided that wasn’t enough.

“We wanted something that couldn’t be pushed away. Something that couldn’t be closeted,” Robinson recalls from the days of establishing the parade march.

However, obtaining and securing a permit for the event was more complicated that it would seem. The early 90s was a time filled with activism for the LGBTQ community and some felt that battles were won through a delicate balancing act with regard to more conservative areas, such as Fresno, and the influential opinion was that Fresno was not ready for an ’out’ Pride celebration.

“Gay and Lesbian individuals who were in positions of leadership, who were visible community members, tried to work with the city government and Tower [District] businesses to stop us from having a parade on the streets of Olive Ave,” shares Robinson on the argument which few felt that the celebration would send the movement backwards, causing more harm than good.

The opposition failed and the permit was won. However, the committee was soon to face their next show of resistance; the KKK. Stationing themselves between what is now Sequoia Brewery and the Tower Theatre, the KKK came dressed in full traditional Klan attire complete with robes and infamous hoods, facing absolutely no opposition from any other members of the local community. But in spite of the display of intimidation, the committee was ready with a strong show of support.

Organizations from San Francisco and Los Angeles came to show their support with members representing from Queer Nation, Act Up, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and roughly 20 bikers from the Women’s Motorcycle Contingent (Dykes on Bikes) to round out the march.

Read more: Everything Begins with One Step